Wednesday, September 16, 2015

It is with some sadness that I am no longer going to post on this blog.
The reason being that I also maintain a Flikr feed that incorporates my astro photography (which really is what this blog has matured into).

Friday, August 28, 2015

Wow, nearly a year since I blogged. Luckily Matt has kept up the site and also fired my interest again.

I bought a new camera the other month and with my new mount, last October there should be no reason why, when the nights are clear, I shouldn't rush out with my kit and start snapping.

So I thought I would check out my kit as it hadn't been used for a long time and I needed to familiarise myself with how it all worked. I popped out quite early last night and thought I'd go for something easy like the moon; it was a 3/4 moon and would later bleach out a lot of the star brightness so getting myself prepared for the darker nights I set to work.

I tried at Prime focus; Olympus OMD EM10, 1/320 sec, ISO 320

Tycho, looking magnificent but I was surprised to see what looks like Lamarck D on the left hand side of the moon. I may be corrected on that but I don't think I've ever captured it before.

I tried 2 X Barlow; Olympus OMD EM10, 1/100 sec, ISO 320

Now this is actually two pictures stuck together in photoshop. I'm quite happy with this as it is a blown up version of the prime shot but I need to get on top of the focus. I think this could have been a lot better if sharper.

And finally 3X Barlow; Olympus OMD EM10, 1/12 sec, ISO 1250

As you can see I had to boost the ISO as I was using both Barlow and EP adapter. I've lost a bit of focus and definition but Crater Schiller is the oval shaped crater below Tycho and Phoyclides the large rounder crater nearby.

And that was it. Personally, after 10 months inactivity, I'm happy to have produced 3 reasonable shots which just need me to concentrate on the focus a bit more - that is more about me needing to look at the camera instructions more so I can get an enlarged picture on the screen.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Al and I (plus families) have just spent a week together under canvas over in North Norfolk (UK). The skies here are truly magnificent when they are clear. Indeed a Star Party is held every year near where we camped at Kelling Heath.
Here are a couple of views of the Milky Way from our camp site.

Friday, August 07, 2015

So finally managed to get out when there has been a clear night with no Moon. A really clear beautiful Summer's evening where the night sky just looks superb.
Here we have a look into the Milky Way through Cygnus. Deneb is the brighter star in the top left. Messier 29 is below the brighter star (Sadr) just left of middle.
This is my first piggy-back attempt.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Well, this was well and truly the event of the century! Captured here from Derbyshire (about 88% totality). There was a thin layer of cloud, but this only added to the drama of the images I think.
First image is taken around 09:20, the second at "totality" approx 09:32.